US President Donald Trump has labelled the migrant caravan travelling through Mexico an "invasion", but is that accurate?
In November, thousands of desperate families and individuals arrived at the US border hoping for a better life on the other side.
They are fleeing extreme poverty and violence in Central America, and most of them are just hoping for a better life, reports The Project's Australia Correspondent Hamish Macdonald.
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The caravan members were just days away from reaching the American border when Macdonald spoke to them.
"My name is Carlos, I'm 20 years old," one of the caravan members told The Project.
Carlos and his friends had been walking for six weeks from their homes in Honduras up through Mexico.
"My life was at risk in Honduras so I took the decision to come here," he said.
"The gangs, they wanted to make me do things I didn't want to do. They wanted me to sell drugs where I worked. They gave me two days and I didn't do it, so they'd kill me."
President Trump has called the march an invasion.
"You look at what's marching up, that's an invasion," he told a crowd at a political rally.
"Yes sir, we have barbed wire going up, because you know what? We're not letting these people invade our country."
For the most part, the caravan consists of young men, some women and families carrying a backpack and maybe a blanket, reports Macdonald.
They're walking the highways, the mountains and the deserts of Central America in the faint hope that when they get there they'll be able to cross the border wall.
Josue, 17, has a tragic story. Like so many of the migrants, he fled alone after being threatened by a criminal gang.
"They wanted me to join with them," he told The Project.
"They threatened me. And they killed my brother."
The US President has latched onto the political force presented by unwanted and undocumented arrivals.
"The lawless caravan, the one you've been watching, come from 20 different countries, and include among them criminals and gang members convicted of crimes," he said.
President Trump is right when he says this, Macdonald reports. Every one of the migrants agrees there are gang members in the caravan.
But the truth is the vast majority of the people are actually running away from gangs, he says.
"We take turns," a caravan member told The Project.
"Sometimes three of us sleep while the others keep watch,"
Thousands of Central Americans have already made it to the US border in Tijuana and thousands more are still beating the well-trodden path.
"For the moment we will wait, because the army is at the border," the caravan member said.
"So we will wait and work in Tijuana until everything calms down."
They've sacrificed so much just to get this far, says Macdonald, and what they don't realise is that the next stage might be the hardest.
Newshub.
